Birmingham Riots 1963By: Elena Anderson

The Birmingham Riots of 1963 happened because the blacks wanted to stand up and protest their civil rights. They believed that they deserved to have the same rights as the whites. So to do this, they all decided they would protest to prove their point and get what they want for themselves and their race. The Birmingham Riots of 1963 lasted for 8 days, it happened on May 2nd to May 10th in Birmingham, Alabama. The main goal of this was that the blacks be heard and taken seriously what they want which is to be treated the same as whites, so being able to share the same things such as bathrooms and drinking fountains and being able to go to the same places and not be treated differently such as schools and restaurants.

Many people were involved with the Birmingham Riot. There were the walking and watching bystanders, the protesters, and the police officers trying to stop the protesters from their protesting. The two most important people who were involved with this event would be Martin Luther King Jr and Eugene "Bull" Connor. Martin was a black minister and Eugene was a white American politician. Eugene was important during this time because on the first day of the protest, May 2nd, he was ordering the Birmingham cops on what to do and at the end of the day, 959 young protesters were sent to jail.

The paragraphs above is the letter Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in the Birmingham jail. Martin Luther King Jr. was very important to many people but mostly to the black community. Since Martin was black too, he was able to speak out things that mostly the black race would understand. Martin was very impactful on the black race and he helped them fight for their needs and that's what made him end up in jail.

All the protesters wanted was to speak their mind and be heard and taken in consideration on what they wanted but what they ended up getting during their protesting was water sprayed at them by police officials and many people ended up in jail. Despite of this, they kept going on with what they had until they knew when it was time to stop protesting and let the other people make up their minds on what to do.

Blacks now have the same rights as whites. Blacks are treated much better even though there are still moments where racism happens. But blacks are better heard and blacks are even bossing around whites. So the Birmingham Riot in 1963 helped the future of the black race. A major event that is like the Birmingham riot would be the "Black Lives Matter", people are still protesting on racial equality and during this protest, things can turn ugly. Even though today's protest are more violent than it was in 1963, people are still demanding to be treated the way they believe they should be treated.